Xavier Navigates Wind, Rain At All-Ohio Intercollegiate Championships

Sept. 30, 2011

CEDARVILLE, Ohio - A wet, muddy course coupled with 20-25 mph sustained winds greeted the Xavier cross country teams at the All-Ohio Intercollegiate Championships held at the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course.

The women, led by senior Caylin Howell, placed fourth out of the 47 teams in the 5-kilometer race, while sophomore Tom Ohlman led the men's team, which finished 11th out of 45 schools in the men's 8-kilometer race.

Howell maintained a strong pace throughout the race and stayed towards the front of the pack. Nearing the finish line the rain intensified as the Sugarland, Texas native posted a 18:35.03 finish, good for 18th overall and 12 spots better than last year.

Sophomore twins Clare and Abby Fischer continued to have strong seasons as the two had an 18:40.66 and 18:43.46 finish, respectively. Clare Fischer placed 23rd while her sister finished 27th in the race.

Running for the first time since suffering an injury, sophomore Ashley Vincent finished 34th (18:50.06) while sophomore Anna Ahlrichs concluded the race in 40th with a time of 18:53.60 to round out Xavier's scoring at 142.

One spot back from Ahlrichs was junior Rachel Clark (18:54.55). Junior Kaitlin Price (19:06.31) had a 56th place finish.

Ohlman placed 14th and clocked a time of 25:32.66 despite running into stiff head winds in the last quarter mile leading up to the finish line for the men's team. Junior Ben Foley ran a 25:40.51, cutting eight seconds from last year's time, to take the 21st position and Senior Keith Albrektson grabbed the 30th slot with a 25:54.28 finish.

Sophomore Chris Hanson was the fourth place finisher for Xavier, taking the 136th overall spot with a time of 27:31.69 and freshman Corey Zielinski ran a 27:31.69 to place 149th. The men's team finished with 346 points.

Senior Ben Nathan (27:52.14) placed 170th and junior Matt Coniglio (28:03.33) finished 185th overall to round out the Musketeers field in the championship race.

Miami finished won the women's championship with 36 points. Dayton took the two spot with 46 points and Ohio University finished third with 70 points. In fifth, behind Xavier, was Cincinnati with 205. Juli Accurso won the women's individual championship with a 17:55.38 finish.

Cincinnati scored 95 points to win the men's race. Kent State followed with 109 points and Akron had 140 points to finish third. Ohio University (158) and Ashland (173) rounded out the top five. The Bearcats Eric Finan was the men's individual champion with a time of 24:44.49.

Another big race awaits the Musketeers, who will run at the Pre-Nationals, hosted by Indiana State on Oct. 16 in Terre Haute, Ind. The meet features 59 teams in the men's 8-kilometer race and 64 teams competing in the women's 5-kilometer race. There will be open races for both the men's and women's in addition to the Blue Race.

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